The word aura has been beaten to death when used in discourse or describing pretty much everything, however we’re saving this special use for Sexy Jay and how you couldn’t turn away from his songs or live performances.
He’s just a dude that cuts hair, enjoys skating, and has this whimsy for making fun music about the world around him. In this CLAVEL feature, we sat down with Sexy Jay in his humble condo unit to talk about his newest album, DAGA.
The true definition of having made it by staying true to yourself, Sexy Jay started out by literally making music in his bathroom whenever he feels like it. It’s that feeling when artists have this jolt of inspiration and they immediately record their raw ideas to preserve them.
For Sexy Jay, it would be like if his lyrics are a walking onomatopoeia of everyday sights (please listen to Minonami and run this article back.) He has this playful approach when creating catchy songs, mixing thoughts of what he sees as is with synth-infused sounds inspired by post punk and other listening habits in the form New Order, Joy Division, and more. The vision for the music he likes would be if it would make a pretty cool soundtrack to a skate montage.
“Masaya yung lyrics at makulit. Tapos energetic yung tunog na mapapasayaw ka.”
Deep diving into the album, DAGA’s titular track features an opening sting somewhat similar to an 80’s low budget horror flick followed by him repeating “dadagadaga daga” over and over again as he points out his discovery of rats inside his cabinet. It’s him sprinkling character and making everything seem interesting, perhaps seeing the world for all its unicorns and rainbows.
This album is also a special one to Sexy Jay personally, as he had more input in crafting the sounds and structures of DAGA compared to his previous works where he mostly used preset loops. It’s also a nice parallel on how he continuously develops his musicality while still maintaining the simplicity of his songwriting.
The themes from the album range end to end, such as insightful social commentary on the continuous floods with Baha to his failures on sipping soup due to his painful Singaw that one time. It can really sound absurd at first, but there’s a certain charm and infectious energy that you’ll eventually sing and dance along to after repeat listens.
It’s another whole beast when you see this man live. That’s where the aura comes from as he’s just having so much fun on stage that you’d just get it immediately. And if you’re lucky to attend one, you’d want to go back for more gigs.
“Yung sayaw, parang may kiti-kiti. Ganyan yung energy na naffeel ko tuwing nagpperform ako live.”
You can pretty much turn your brains off for a moment when you listen to the album. It’s earworm-inducing and a guaranteed pretty fun time, something that Sexy Jay as a person believes that if his audience is enjoying, then he as an artist would enjoy as well.
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